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1. Unbelief hardens men's hearts against means afforded for their good (2 Kings 17:14; Exodus 9:19, 21).

2. It keeps them from being established in the way of God (Isaiah 7:9).

3. It makes them reject those whom God sends (John 5:38; Matthew 21:32).

4. It takes away the profit of God's word (Hebrews 4:2).

5. It perverts the plainest manner of teaching (John 3:12; John 10:25).

6. It makes miracles not to be regarded (John 12:37).

7. It enrageth men's minds against the truth (Acts 17:5):

8. It moved the apostles to depart from people (Acts 19:9).

9. It makes men unfit to call on God (Romans 10:4).

10. Unbelievers can in nothing please God (Hebrews 11:6).

11. They are no sheep of Christ (John 10:26).

12. They are under Satan's power (2 Corinthians 4:4).

13. To unbelievers nothing is pure (Titus 1:15).

14. The gifts which Christ bestows upon them are fruitless and without power (Matthew 17:20).

15. Christ's own power is stinted to them (Matthew 13:58).

16. Unbelief makes men do detestable acts (1 Timothy 1:13).

17. It was an especial cause of the rejection of the Jews (Romans 11:20).

18. It was the cause of many external judgments (Hebrews 3:19; Hebrews 11:31). For it makes men run headlong into danger (Exodus 14:23).

19. It excludes from heaven (Hebrews 4:11).

20. It thrusts down to hell (Luke 12:46; Mark 16:16; John 3:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:12; Revelation 21:8). Can that which is in itself so heinous a sin, and that which has so many fearful effects following upon it, be accounted an infirmity? If we would judge it as indeed it is a true, proper sin, a cause of many other gross sins: a sin most dishonourable to God, and damagable to our own souls: we should take more heed of it, and be more watchful against it.

(W. Gouge.)

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KJV: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

WEB: Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;